Yellow-footed rock-wallaby

Petrogale xanthopus

Blamed on cats

IUCN status: Near Threatened

EPBC Predator Threat Rating: High

IUCN claim: Not attributed

Studies in support

Rock wallaby remains were found in the cat’s diet (Doherty et al. 2015).

Studies not in support

Rock-wallaby remains were not found in the cat’s diet (Lapidge & Henshall 2001). Stobo-Wilson et al. (2020b) reported that rock-wallabies were detected at 2 sites but not at the other 2 sites, and that cats were detected at all 4, but no statistical analysis was provided.

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

There are no studies evidencing a negative association between cats and yellow-footed rock-wallaby populations.

Evidence linking Petrogale xanthopus to cats. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Petrogale xanthopus and cats. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that cats contribute to the decline of Petrogale xanthopus, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance.

References

Current submission (2023) Scant evidence that introduced predators cause extinctions. Conservation Biology

Doherty, T.S., Davis, R.A., van Etten, E.J., Algar, D., Collier, N., Dickman, C.R., Edwards, G., Masters, P., Palmer, R. and Robinson, S., 2015. A continental‐scale analysis of feral cat diet in Australia. Journal of Biogeography, 42(5), pp.964-975.

EPBC. (2015) Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by Feral Cats. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Department of Environment, Government of Australia. (Table A1).

IUCN Red List. https://www.iucnredlist.org/ Accessed June 2023

Lapidge, S.J. and Henshall, S., 2001. Diet of foxes and cats, with evidence of predation on yellow-footed rock-wallabies (Petrogale xanthopus Celeris) by foxes in southwsetern Queensland. Australian Mammalogy, 23(1), pp.47-52.

Stobo-Wilson, A.M., Brandle, R., Johnson, C.N. and Jones, M.E., 2020. Management of invasive mesopredators in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia: effectiveness and implications. Wildlife Research, 47(8), pp.720-730.